Department of Linguistics & TESOL | The University of Texas at Arlington

CoLang 2014: Institute on Collaborative Language Research

Chikashshanompa' Ilanompoli'

'Let's Speak Chickasaw'

the Chickasaw Language Program 2007 – 2014

Joshua Hinson

Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program / University of Oklahoma

Thursday, June 26, 1-2pm

Lone Star Auditorium, Maverick Activities Center

Course Information:

This talk will address the seven year process of developing an active language revitalization program. Serving over 55,000 tribal citizens, the program uses the best of immersion language learning approaches and modern media to grow a new speech community in the Chickasaw community of south-central Oklahoma while simultaneously enriching the larger body of tribal citizens who live at large, outside the tribal boundaries.

Instructor Biography:

Joshua D. Hinson (Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Euro-American) is an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. He is currently the director of the Department of Chickasaw Language / Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program, Division of History and Culture, the Chickasaw Nation.

Joshua descends from Imatapo (Their Tent People) house group and Kowishto' (Panther) clan. He is the first male born in a direct line of Chickasaw women tracing back eleven documented generations.

Joshua is the youngest conversational speaker of the Chickasaw language and is also an award-winning artist, focusing on graphic arts and painting.

Joshua was awarded the Master of Arts in Native American Art History in 2007, graduating from the University of New Mexico. His research interests include Chickasaw stickball and stickball regalia, Chickasaw cultural history and Chickasaw language revitalization. He is currently a doctoral student in Native Language Revitalization at the University of Oklahoma.

Joshua, who’s Chickasaw name is Lokosh (Gourd), is the husband of Mika Jo Freeman Hinson and the father of Ruslan Hinson, who is called Minko’ (Leader), Andrey Hinson, who is called Chakwihili’ (Possum), Levi Michael Hinson, who is called Chokfi' (Rabbit), and Noah Ray Hinson, who is called Labaachi' (Talks All the Time). They live in the country near Latta, Oklahoma and attend the Central Church of Christ in Ada, Oklahoma.